by Carrie Brock
Blake considered the speech for a long moment, his thoughts pausing on Teddy's reaction. After a moment he became aware of the butler's labored breathing. “You did nothing wrong, Chester. I would not turn out a man and his family over such an insignificant trifle. Do you understand?”
A sheen of moisture sprouted in the man's faded blue eyes. “Thank you, my lord. And might I say it is an honor to be in your employ.”
“Now that we have shared our mutual admiration of each other, I would greatly appreciate that remedy of your wife's. I have not felt like this since I was a boy and ate a half dozen green apples.”
Chester's eyes sparkled, but his facade of reserve remained securely in place. “Right away, sir.”
Inside the library, a fire crackled cheerfully in the grate, the light of the flames reflecting off the rich oak paneling. The warmth drew Blake over the hardwood floor, on to the woven rug of browns and blacks, around the leather settee to the hearth where he dropped into an overstuffed chair upholstered in brown leather. Blake extended his feet toward the fire and crossed his legs at the ankle. For a moment, he stared at the red flames over the toe of one boot. Damn but his head hurt, and his stomach felt as though it was a caldron over a searing hot stove.
Teddy Bartholomew was in England.
All in all, what had started out as a pleasant day had turned into a deucedly disagreeable experience. Unbidden, a vision rose before him of Nicki throwing herself with reckless abandon into Teddy's arms.
Rage flared inside him. He clenched his fists. If he had acted on his first inclination, he would have jerked his fiancé away from the man and planted him a facer. The only problem with that plan of action would have been Nicki's response. Much as he disliked the fact, she adored the insolent popinjay, and if Blake had rendered him unconscious she undoubtedly would have been irate.
Still, it might have been worth her anger. No. Teddy already possessed too large a portion of Nicki's sympathy. Why could she not see how little the man deserved her loyalty?
And what about his own actions over the past years? Because of him, her family stood on the brink of destitution. What made him think he had any claim to her devotion just because he had become her fiancé?
He recalled the sweetness of her mouth, the freshness of her scent that surrounded him, enveloped him as her body pressed against his. Innocence combined with her adventurous nature lent a boldness to her behavior Blake found irresistible. He would do whatever necessary to experience her passion again and again.
Damn Bartholomew's interference.
So quickly had come the longing for more of her. Did a man ever tire of such breathtaking freshness?
“Lord Diamond, you have a visitor.”
Blake rubbed his forehead. “Who is it, Chester?”
“Teddy Bartholomew,” came the reply from behind his servant.
He stiffened at the familiar voice and moved his hand down his face as though to wipe away any emotion that might linger. Blake stood and turned to the door. “Do come in.”
Chester glanced from one face to the other, the master of his past and that of his present. His gaze returned to Blake, somber. “I will be along shortly with your tea, sir.”
“Very good, Chester. Would you care for anything, Ted?” Blake moved to the desk so his back would be to the window.
“Something a little stronger, I think.”
Blake nodded. “I can take care of that. Thank you, Chester.”
The butler closed the door and Teddy moved further into the room. His gaze casually swept his surroundings. “You haven't changed much about the place.”
“The house suits me as it is.” He narrowed his gaze. “Did you come here to investigate my taste in decorating, or did you not get enough of my company earlier today?”
Teddy's amber eyes glittered, even as his mouth spread into a mirthless grin. “Ah, the gloves come off. No polite chit-chat.”
“Has there ever been such between us?” Blake crossed his arms over his chest and backed away a step to lean a hip against the edge of his desk.
“No, I suppose not. After you left the Hall, I learned you and Nicki have become engaged. I cannot believe you followed through with the threats you made against me in America. What can you possibly expect to gain by terrorizing an innocent girl?”
Blake's stomach churned with fury, but he had trained himself to hold his emotions in check. Despite his control, a muscle in his jaw flinched. “Nicole is no longer your affair.”
“That's where you're wrong.” Teddy slapped his leather gloves against his thigh. “I've known her too long to stand by and let you destroy her.”
“What makes you so certain my goal is to harm her?”
With exaggerated slowness, Teddy strolled toward Blake, his expression belying his casual movements. “She's Jonathon Langley's daughter and the woman I intended to make my wife. No more need be said.”
Shifting his hips slightly, Blake positioned one thigh on the corner of the desk and allowed his foot to rock casually. Frustration, anger, uncertainty. Emotions battled their way across Bartholomew's face.
“It was your description of her that brought me here.” That struck a nerve and Teddy's color deepened. “She is everything you said she would be—and much more.”
“Damn you, you've gone too far in your quest for revenge! Nicki shouldn't suffer for something she knows nothing of. You surprise even me that you would go to these extremes.”
Blake stood and strode to the fire. “That is something, I suppose—to surprise you.” Taking up the iron poker he stabbed at the coals until sparks spewed forth. “I had assumed little could take you unawares.”
“She's special, Blake, and she doesn't deserve your cruelty. I never would have told you about her if I had known you would do this!”
Heat from the flames warmed Blake's face like tiny rays of sunlight, contrasting with the coldness that had encased his heart for so long. “You are so certain I have no fondness for her. It seems once again you have underestimated me.” He turned from the fire, his face so stiff with tension. “You have come on a fool's mission, Bartholomew. I will not turn from the course I have plotted. The marital contracts have been signed and within the fortnight I shall take Nicole for my wife.”
It was as though Teddy was the one next to the fire, as high color splotched his fair skin. “We'll see whose wife she becomes. Nicki's not stupid—she'll see through you before long.”
Bitterness flowed through Blake. He welcomed it, allowed it to seep into his smile. “She never saw through you.”
Lips compressed, face suddenly pale, Teddy clenched his fists and spun on his heel. He strode to the door and jerked it open. Just outside the entrance, Chester attempted to sidestep out of the way, but Teddy's arm glanced off the tray he carried, almost upending it. Seconds later the front door slammed.
Blake sighed deeply and jammed his fingers through his hair. He had lost control. It was a mistake he could not afford to repeat.
His expression was carefully benign as Chester stepped into the library.
“Your tea, sir.”
A sharp pain arced through Blake's stomach. “Just in time, Chester. Thus far I have found my return to England extremely hard on the nerves.”
“Might I be of some assistance, my lord?”
Blake glowered as he lifted the cup of steaming liquid from the tray. “You may be the only commonsensical person in my life at this moment, Chester. If you can maintain your wits about you with everyone else losing theirs, that will be enough for me.”
“I shall do my best, sir.”
Blake sipped the hot liquid and winced at the bitter taste. “I have some business to attend. In under an hour I shall have several letters for Smith to take with him to London posthaste. Please notify him that he must prepare to leave immediately upon my word.”
“Mr. Smith has been anxious to be on his way, sir. I shall inform him of your instructions at once.”
Once again Chester exite
d the room and closed the door to leave Blake alone with his thoughts. With a grimace, he raised the cup to his lips and downed the drink all at once. The burning eased almost immediately.
Blake set the cup on the mantle, then moved to the window and drew back the heavy drapes. A stale mustiness filled his nostrils. Perhaps the house needed some redecorating after all. Or at least a good airing.
Weak sunlight filtered in through the paned glass. The wide expanse of lawn leading to the forest that separated his property from the Langleys drew his gaze, but Blake's thoughts again turned to Nicole.
It was through those woods she had traipsed without the slightest reservation. In years past, she must have traveled that same route to reach Teddy. Chester said she had followed him about like a puppy. Such devotion, yet without expectation that the same emotion would be returned.
Blake released the curtain and absently watched the meager light disappear. The thought of Nicole climbing the trellis outside to reach Teddy shot a spark of white-hot anger in him. Bartholomew did not deserve her love, and when Blake and Nicole were married, she would see the folly of her unflagging devotion.
He glanced at his desk to the two folded and sealed missives. One addressed to his solicitor in London, the other to his aunt, Lady Sophia Ransom. If he were thinking clearly, he would tear up both and toss them into the fire.
From across the room they drew him. He lifted the letter to Sophia. She would not expect to hear from him and certainly not by letter containing a request for her assistance. Though she was his father's only sister, they had never had what could be termed a close familial relationship.
In fact, Blake easily recalled listening to shouting matches from his father's library, usually centered on Aunt Sophia's financial difficulties. The Earl of Diamond had little sympathy for what he considered weaknesses in human character and Sophia's husband, Leopold, possessed more than his share. The man had a penchant for investing, gambling, and expensive possessions—though he had no talent for choosing appropriate investments or horses, and heavy losses did not support the lifestyle he and his family enjoyed.
As the head of the family, Sophia expected her brother to contribute to her support as needed. Blake's father had not shared her belief. Still, the Diamond name did mean something and he intervened at the last possible moment, keeping Leopold and Sophia from disgrace. His intervention never came without a price, and Sophia had paid it time and again.
Absently tapping the letter against his palm, Blake sighed. Sophia must have thought her hopes answered when her brother died and Blake had been gone from England without word for years. With Blake's reappearance, her hopes that her son Harry would inherit the title under the desertion clause of her brother's will were soundly dashed. She might even believe Blake would take over his father's practice of withholding money.
Yet he now asked for her help.
Blake tossed the envelope atop the other addressed to his solicitor. After careful thought, he had chosen the best course open to him and he must follow it, no matter how it went against the grain. Having so much to lose, Sophia would not turn him down. His solicitor would be surprised, but then Blake had never been the most circumspect of clients. He supposed everyone would just have to accustom themselves to his new eccentric turn of mind.
After all, how could anyone be the same after coming into contact with Nicole Langley?
Chapter 8
. . .
Nicki eased the door to Mina's bedchamber open. Her gaze moved to the form lying on the white coverlet. Their lives had become curiously similar to a carriage gone out of control, and they careened toward the unknown at an astonishing rate of speed—all due to Nicki's inability to control her own rash impulses. Somehow she had managed to embroil her sister in this predicament.
“What are you hovering in the doorway for, Nicki? Come over here where we can talk. I promise not to do you physical harm.”
Relieved, Nicki hurried to do her sister's bidding. “After the mess I have made of things, I would not blame you a bit if you tried to toss me out the window.”
Mina sat up, motioned for Nicki to join her, and scooted toward the middle of the bed. “That's an extremely good idea, but it would make such a mess and you know how Angelica despises clutter. Besides, the earl might demand my hand in marriage to make up for your loss and I would be right back in the position you nearly had me in this morning.”
“Sometimes I just do not think things out clearly, Mina. Please forgive me?”
“Sometimes? When have you ever thought anything out clearly, sister? I find it a frightening prospect to imagine what goes through your mind at times.” Her expression softened. “Still, you most always mean well and I can't fault you for that. You're forgiven, as if you ever had any doubt!”
Nicki leaned back against the fluffy lace covered cushions and pillows at the head of the bed. “I have certainly got myself into a corner this time. Teddy complicates the situation to no end. The earl continues to insist that he will not release me from this marriage. Only moments ago Teddy roasted me for falling victim to the earl's diabolical schemes. I am so confused, Mina!”
“What confuses you? If you truly want Teddy, I cannot imagine the earl holding you to the marriage. But you must be certain he is what you want, Nicki, and that he wants you.”
“I know you do not care for either of them, but they both have admirable qualities. Teddy is—well, he is Teddy. He is like a windowpane and I can see straight through to his heart. But Blake—one moment he is light and teasing, then the next it is like slipping beneath the ice that covers our pond. I cannot see past the barrier he draws about himself. It frightens me to imagine living the rest of my life with a man who holds so many secrets buried inside.”
“Yet you are intrigued.”
Nicki drew her knees up and clasped her arms about them. She suddenly felt like crying, and had not the faintest notion where the urge came from. “I think he has been hurt deeply, and yes, it intrigues me. Perhaps I want to be the one to thaw the ice. I feel drawn to what I know dwells in the heart of . . . ”
Mina grinned. “The heart of the Diamond?”
“Am I truly crazy, Mina? How can I want two men?”
“Are you so certain you want both? You are loyal to a fault, Nicki, and you've loved Teddy for as long as I can remember. Perhaps it is time to look more closely at your feelings. Only you can decide which way you must go.”
Nicki buried her face in her arms. “But I am to be married to Blake!”
“That's not like you, sister. You've always made your own choices. Look at what drew you to Rosewood the night you became engaged. You went there because you wanted out of a marriage, and you intended to find some way to do that. What happened wasn't what you expected, but it accomplished your goal. If you truly don't want to marry the earl, you'll find a way out."
Nicki was silent.
"But perhaps you don't want out? Only you can decide that, Nicki.”
“If I could be certain Blake could ever care for me . . . ”
Mina put her arm around Nicki and squeezed. “I think if you want Blake, you will not rest until you've won his heart. But first you must decide if you want him. Now that Teddy is here, the decision may be more difficult.”
Nicki rested her head on her sister's shoulder, sighing deeply. “One thing is for certain.”
“What is that?”
“The weeks to come promise to be extremely entertaining.”
Mina giggled. “As long as you keep me in the role of spectator and not participant, I shall enjoy the show.”
“I promise not to make you a scapegoat again. But watch them closely at dinner tonight. If you should decide you want either man, you will let me know? It would make my decision much easier.”
“Nicki!”
“Very well. A spectator you shall be. And I shall remember your unwillingness to assist me if you should ever need my help in the future.”
. . .
Nicki fidd
led with her silverware as she listened to Teddy's outrageous account of his voyage from America. His amber eyes absorbed the light from the many beeswax candles positioned in brass holders along the table, and gleamed as brightly as the golden cherub statuette centerpieces.
With his constant smile creating that dimple in his right cheek he was so completely unchanged from the Teddy she had known. Nicki found it easy to step back into the comfortable friendship they had shared before.
Nicki intercepted a sharp glance from her stepmother and laid her fork down next to the spoon. She buried her hands in the soft silk of her gown to keep them occupied more quietly.
The action only reminded her of the pains she had taken with her appearance. Pearl earbobs that had once belonged to her mother pinched her earlobes, which were charmingly displayed by her upswept coiffure. Her golden curls tumbled in careful disarray down her neck and back, several slipping over one shoulder. Lucy had outdone herself, impressing even Nicki, who usually had no patience with such frippery.
She only hoped she did not look a mess by the time Blake arrived. Somehow, she knew something would be amiss. Already a strand of hair had slipped free and tickled her cheek.
So why did she feel a jolt of surprise when she caught Teddy's gaze on her with something more than comradely affection sparking in their depths? For as long as she could remember, she had expected to marry Teddy Bartholomew, had promised she would never love another. She should be ecstatic that he seemed attracted to the woman she had become.
It was all Blake's fault. If he had not interfered with her life, she could have been more thrilled with Teddy's presence at Langley Hall. She still could be. If only she could think of some way to set matters to rights.